page_title: Odysseus
section_title: The Iliad
hierarchical_section_title: Odysseus / During the Trojan War / The Iliad
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Menelaos und Meriones heben die Leiche Patroklos' auf einen Wagen, während Odysseus (rechts mit Piloshelm und Schild) zuschaut. Urne aus Alabaster, etruskisches Werk, 2. Jahrhundert v.d.Z. Aus Volterra. Aufbewahrt im Museo Nazionale Archeologico Nazionale in Florenz. English: Menelaus and Meriones lifting Patroclus' corpse on a cart while Odysseus (on the right, wearing the pilos hat and a shield) looks on. Alabaster urn, Etruscan artwork, 2nd century BC. From Volterra. Stored in the Museo Nazionale Archeologico Nazionale in Florence. Español: Menelao y Merión sostienen el cadaver de Patroclo en un carro. Urna de alabastro, bajorrelieves estruscos, siglo II dC. (en Volterra). Expuesto en el Museo Nacional Arqueológico de Florencia. Français&#160;: Ménélas et Mérion déposent dans un char le corps de Patrocle pendant qu'Ulysse (à droite, portant le pilos et un bouclier) regarde la scène. Urne en albâtre, art étrusque, IIe siècle av. J.-C. Provenance: Volterra. Conservé au Musée national archéologique de Florence.
context_page_description: Odysseus, also known by the Latin variant Ulysses, is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in that same epic cycle.
  Son of Laërtes and Anticlea, husband of Penelope, and father of Telemachus and Acusilaus, Odysseus is renowned for his intellectual brilliance, guile, and versatility, and is thus known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning. He is most famous for his nostos, or "homecoming", which took him ten eventful years after the decade-long Trojan War.
context_section_description: Odysseus is one of the most influential Greek champions during the Trojan War. Along with Nestor and Idomeneus he is one of the most trusted counsellors and advisors. He always champions the Achaean cause, especially when others question Agamemnon's command, as in one instance when Thersites speaks against him. When Agamemnon, to test the morale of the Achaeans, announces his intentions to depart Troy, Odysseus restores order to the Greek camp. Later on, after many of the heroes leave the battlefield due to injuries (including Odysseus and Agamemnon), Odysseus once again persuades Agamemnon not to withdraw. Along with two other envoys, he is chosen in the failed embassy to try to persuade Achilles to return to combat.
  When Hector proposes a single combat duel, Odysseus is one of the Danaans who reluctantly volunteered to battle him. Telamonian Ajax ("The Greater"), however, is the volunteer who eventually fights Hector. Odysseus aids Diomedes during the night operations to kill Rhesus, because it had been foretold that if his horses drank from the Scamander River, Troy could not be taken.
  After Patroclus is slain, it is Odysseus who counsels Achilles to let the Achaean men eat and rest rather than follow his rage-driven desire to go back on the offensive—and kill Trojans—immediately. Eventually (and reluctantly), he consents. During the funeral games for Patroclus, Odysseus becomes involved in a wrestling match with Ajax "The Greater" and foot race with Ajax "The Lesser," son of Oileus and Nestor's son Antilochus. He draws the wrestling match, and with the help of the goddess Athena, he wins the race.
  Odysseus has traditionally been viewed as Achilles' antithesis in the Iliad: while Achilles' anger is all-consuming and of a self-destructive nature, Odysseus is frequently viewed as a man of the mean, a voice of reason, renowned for his self-restraint and diplomatic skills. He is also in some respects antithetical to Telamonian Ajax (Shakespeare's "beef-witted" Ajax): while the latter has only brawn to recommend him, Odysseus is not only ingenious (as evidenced by his idea for the Trojan Horse), but an eloquent speaker, a skill perhaps best demonstrated in the embassy to Achilles in book 9 of the Iliad. The two are not only foils in the abstract but often opposed in practice since they have many duels and run-ins.
caption: Menelaus and Meriones lifting Patroclus' corpse on a cart while Odysseus looks on, Etruscan alabaster urn from Volterra, Italy, 2nd century BC
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D70", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DxO Optics Pro Standard MACOSX 3.55b.6377581.356110 BMVDCTF", "Image DateTime": "2006:09:14 14:10:52", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ReferenceBlackWhite": "[0, 255, 0, 255, 0, 255]", "Image DateTimeOriginal": "2006:09:14 14:10:52", "Image Tag 0x9216": "[1, 0, 0, 0]", "Image Tag 0xD000": "1", "Image ExifOffset": "374", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "8140", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9311", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1000", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:09:14 14:10:52", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:09:14 14:10:52", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "RedGreenBlue", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "5906891/1000000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "86797/20000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "41/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Tungsten (incandescent light)", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "35", "EXIF SubSecTime": "80", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "80", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "80", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3008", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2000", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "52", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "8016"}